This Day in FAA History: July 15th

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19340715: The Southwest Division of Varney Speed Lines began operations, flying a mail route between Pueblo, Col., and El Paso, Tex. The organization later evolved into Continental Air Lines, a name that it adopted on July 1, 1937.
19460715: CAA Administrator T. P. Wright invited the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the Air Transport Association, and the Aircraft Industries Association to participate in a joint attack on the problem of aircraft engine noise, which “threatens to undermine aviation progress.” Earlier he had recommended to NACA, in which he served as vice chairman, that consideration be given to research directed at reduction of airplane noise levels. Largely as a result of this recommendation, NACA’s Langley Laboratory initiated a research project to investigate propagation of noise from light airplanes.
19520715: The Secretaries of Defense and Commerce approved a plan for the security control of air traffic (SCAT) during various defense warning conditions. Adopted by the Joint Chiefs of Staff in collaboration with representatives of civil aviation groups, the plan aimed at permitting the maximum of civilian and military flying consistent with national defense requirements. (See July 20, 1957.)
19590715: President Eisenhower signed an order designating Washington’s international airport under construction at Chantilly, Va., as the Dulles International Airport in memory of his late Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles. (See July 11, 1958, and November 17, 1962.)
19610715: The “tall tower” rule (Part 626, Regulations of the Administrator) became effective. This was the first single regulatory document containing criteria and procedures for determining potential hazards to air navigation which might be created by proposed tall structures. The controversial rule was regarded as a firm rejection of the broadcast industry’s contention that such regulation invaded Federal Communications Commission jurisdiction. On July 21, 1961, FAA Administrator Halaby and FCC
Chairman Newton N. Minow announced agreement on a number of measures to insure coordination of the new rule with FCC requirements to prevent unnecessary restriction.
19680715: By this date, FAA had commissioned the first Bright Radar Indicator Tower Equipment (BRITE-1) systems at the Newark, Dallas (Love), and Birminham airport towers (see April 27, 1960). The system presented a televised image of a radar display, an image distinct enough to be used by tower cab controllers in daylight. FAA had used such televised displays on a limited basis since the mid-1960s, then ordered the BRITE-1 from ITT in March 1967. The agency subsequently procured two upgraded versions of the system, which were designated BRITE-2 and BRITE-4. By July 1979, there were approximately 394 BRITEs in service, some of which provided a remote display of radar data at satellite airports without radar transmitters. A Bright Alphanumeric Subsystem (BANS) was used to convert digital data from Automated Radar Terminal Systems (ARTS) for presentation on BRITE displays. In July 1986, FAA ordered approximately 400 Digital Bright Radar Indicator Tower Equipment (DBRITE) systems from Unisys as part of a joint procurement with the Defense Department. DBRITE was expected to provide a simplified and more reliable replacement for both BRITE and BANS. By the end of fiscal year 1992, FAA had completed installation of the DBRITE systems.
19680715: The New York Common Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) Room at John F. Kennedy International Airport went into limited operation by taking over the manual IFR operations controlled by the Kennedy TRACON (terminal radar approach control facility). The Common IFR Room then took over manual IFR operations controlled by the Newark and La Guardia airports’ TRACONS in August and September.
This consolidation permitted more flexible and efficient air traffic control. Under the old scheme, each of the control facilities at Kennedy, Newark, and La Guardia had been assigned airspace with more or less inviolable boundaries separated by large buffer zones. Because of the slowness of communications between the control facilities, boundaries and buffer zones could not be easily shifted to meet changes in traffic flow. In the Common IFR Room, however, controllers working different control areas were within easy reach of each other; when necessary, they were able to shift boundaries and buffers almost instantaneously. (See June 1, 1969.)
19680715: Aeroflot Soviet Airlines and Pan American World Airways inaugurated twice-weekly scheduled passenger service between Moscow and New York as an Aeroflot Ilyushin IL-62 departed Moscow and flew to Kennedy International Airport via Montreal. A Pan American Boeing 707 departed Kennedy that evening and, after an intermediate stop in Denmark, arrived at Moscow on July 16. Aeroflot had been issued a foreign air carrier permit by the Civil Aeronautics Board on June 15, 1968 and the President approved the CAB permit on June 19, 1968. (See November 4, 1966, and June 19, 1973.)
19690715: FAA issued a study of near midair collisions. To encourage the reporting of such incidents, FAA had granted pilots and other airmen immunity from penalties under the Federal Aviation Regulations (see January 1, 1968). This study found that most of the reported near miss incidents of 1968 that were judged to be hazardous had occurred in congested airspace near large airports having air traffic control service, and resulted from mixing controlled traffic with traffic under visual flight rules.
On July 31, 1969, on the heels of FAA’s report, the National Transportation Safety Board released a study of actual midair collisions, which was also based on incidents occurring in 1968. In contrast to FAA’s findings on near misses, the Board found that the majority of the 38 real collisions had taken place in uncongested airspace at or near airports without air traffic control service. There was no evidence that adverse weather was a significant factor in any of the 38 accidents. All of the 71 persons killed in the collisions were occupants of general aviation aircraft. A general aviation aircraft was involved in each accident, with three collisions involving air carrier aircraft and one military airplane.
On December 4, 1969, FAA’s near miss reporting program was extended for an additional two years (see December 31, 1971).
19960715: FAA Administrator Hinson announced initiatives to address the dangers of transporting hazardous materials by air. The initiatives called for a seven-fold increase in resources devoted to the issue, funding to upgrade the “hazmat” program, and the hiring of 130 additional inspectors and legal personnel. He also stated that FAA had asked the Research and Special Projects Administration to ban the transport of oxidizing materials in specific compartments on passenger and cargo aircraft (see December 30, 1996).
19990715: FAA announced a new streamlined administrative action process to deal with violations that did not warrant serious legal enforcement action or pose a serious threat to aviation safety. This new way to resolve minor violations officially commenced on August 30. Using the new process, an inspector would discuss the problem with the alleged violator, fill out a data entry form with all pertinent information, return to the office to check the person’s history, enter the information in a database, and mail an automated warning notice to the individual. This person would still have an opportunity to provide additional information for the FAA’s consideration. Previously, all administrative actions had involved a burdensome process that often entailed multiple letters of investigation and extensive files. (See December 21, 1998.)
20000715: FAA completed the first live flight demonstration of the Airport Movement Area Safety System (AMASS) at San Francisco International Airport. Two FAA aircraft – a Boeing 727 and Convair 580 – participated in the demonstration. AMASS gave controllers aural and visual alerts when aircraft on the airport surface were in danger of running into each other or other airport vehicles. AMASS, an enhancement to the basic airport surface detection radar called ASDE-3, was scheduled to be commissioned at 34 sites by the end of 2002. (See June 14, 2000; May 29, 2001.)
20020715: FAA announced that Harris Corporation had been awarded a contract to modernize, operate, and manage the telecommunications infrastructure that air traffic controllers use to communicate with each other and with pilots. The contract called for the replacement of FAA-owned multiplexing and switching networks, as well as telecommunications services leased from multiple providers. The performance-based contract consisted of a five-year base with options that could extend the period of performance up to 15 years. The FAA anticipated the contract value to grow beyond the initial evaluated cost of approximately $1.7 billion to an estimated $3.5 billion.
20020715: While lauding FAA’s initiative to develop new communications technologies that would support future air traffic management needs, a GAO report recommended the agency assess the possible impact of emerging technologies on the effort. Anticipated growth in air traffic would require more channels for voice communication than FAA’s current systems could handle, according to the report. The agency had undertaken its Next Generation Air/Ground Communications (NEXCOM) initiative to develop an integrated voice and data communications system that would keep pace with future needs. According to the GAO report, FAA eventually would require aviation users to buy new radios and other equipment to support the system. The agency estimated its long-term funding commitment to NEXCOM could reach $4 billion through fiscal year 2023. Members of the House Subcommittee on Aviation had asked GAO to determine to what extent the FAA’s current communications infrastructure could meet future needs, what FAA had done to ensure that the technology selected for NEXCOM would be adequate, and what issues the agency had to resolve before it made its final decision. (See February 22, 2002; February 5, 2003.)
20130715: A new FAA regulation went into effect requiring a second in command (first officer) in domestic, flag, and supplemental operations to hold an airline transport pilot certificate and an airplane type rating for the aircraft to be flown. An airline transport pilot certificate required a pilot be 23 years of age and have 1,500-hours total time as a pilot. (See December 21, 2011; November 5, 2013.)
20160715: President Obama signed the FAA Extension, Safety and Security Act of 2016, a stopgap fix that funded aviation security and other programs for 14 months. The legislation reauthorized FAA through September 2017, providing funding for airport improvement and security programs and additional regulations for drones. (See March 30, 2016; November 22, 2016.)